After the highly successful tour in Lemberg/Lwów/Lviv in May, as we have described in detail, a number of new journeys began to take shape to the sites of the Central and Eastern European Jewish heritage. By now the first one has been composed: we organize it from 20 to 23 July, Friday to Monday, to the Klezmer Festival organized in Lwów on 21-22, Saturday and Sunday.

The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band: Patsh Tants. From the CD Marriage of Heaven and Earth

On Lwów we have already written a lot of nice things both in the announcement of our previous journey and in the posts collected on our Lwów page so that we do not feel obliged to write a special appraisement on the mystery and diversity of the former Eastern capital of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and on the charm of the history petrified here during the past seventy years. And on the klezmer festival, organized now for the fourth time by the Hesed-Arieh Jewish cultural association, it is enough to say that the best authentic bands of the Ukraine, Russia and Moldova feature here together with some guests invited from the most various countries of the world before a thousands strong international audience: I have just read that from Moscow they already organize special trips to the event. The two-day festival is held in various downtown squares, and on the Sunday afternoon gala all the bands go together in march to the Arsenal square facing the Golden Rose synagogue, where they present a traditional Jewish wedding of Lemberik both on the stage and in music. At least this is how they did the previous three times, because just in these days we expect the detailed program of the present event and the list of participating bands from the organizers, and as soon as we will have it, we will publish it, presenting the participants one by one.

Of course, in the breaks of the concerts we will visit the renowned and hidden sights of Lwów’s old town and the less known places of the former Jewish neighborhoods, just as we did last time. We will go through the Renaissance passageways of the Armenian quarter, we will look through the doorways preserving empty mezuzah niches in the Old Jewish street, and by following the zigzags of the alleys in the Jewish suburb, we will discover the former Yiddish and Polish shop labels cropping up from under the old plaster. On Saturday morning we will go out to the little flea market, visit the house of Sholem Alechem, and go to see the Janowska, the former Jewish labor camp still operating as a prison. On Friday evening, if we manage to arrive in time, we will participate on a common candle lit with the members of the local Jewish cultural association, who are already waiting for us with great joy.

The planned price of the journey from Budapest to Lwów and back by bus will be approximately 180 euro, which includes the costs of the bus, the three nights spent in double rooms (with breakfast), the guided tours and the dinner organized on the way back home around Beregovo (with authentic local musicians!), plus a small contribution to the organizers to the festival costs. The single room supplement and the exact price will be published within a week, by 15 June, and then we will also announce the deadline of registration and payment. Nevertheless, if you are interested in the journey, please write us already before that, partly because the bus is already more than half full, and partly because, understandably, we must quickly book the hotel rooms (including any number of eventual single rooms) before the popular event. Whether to get to know this unique city, or (if you already know it) to see a new face of it on the occasion of the festival: come with us. You are all welcome.

P.S. Some additional info, raised by questions via e-mail: No, not only Jews can come: the journey is open to everyone, but as this series has grown out from a journey organized for the Hungarian Jewish Cultural Association, we count with and plan for a strong Jewish presence among the fellow travelers. The language of the guided tours will be adjusted to the composition of the participants: certainly in Hungarian, but also in English, Italian or Spanish if necessary.

Ah, so that’s the reason why you are hiding the rest of your excuses, because you know well that as soon as you reveal them we would immediately refute them! So c’mon, you’ll find no better occasion than this one (well, in late September I plan to guide another tour to Lwów, but at that time without klezmer festival!)